Newbie here :) Looking for a little help and enlightenment!

Textkit Community Open Board
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Hey folks.

Roxanna here, from New Zealand.
I think I may have posted something simmiler to this a few months ago when I signed up and was all excited about learning Latin .. but then I caught “The Lazy” and so there went that idea! But now im back! From outta… no sorry, im back from being lazy, and ive finaly decided to try and learn Latin again.

This will be my .. what? 7th? 10th? 856th? attempt to learn Latin, but things are now different in my life, I dont work or study at the mo, and wont be all this year .. and possibly next as well … so boy, do I have all the spare time in the world!

Any who, ramblerambleramble, my point was .. Is there a wonderfully nice (note: not required) person (note: not so important) out there, who could possibly take me under their wing, and help me on my way to learning this wonderfull language? I have a childs book, of the very very beginings to Latin .. and even thats doing my head in hah, urgh, throws sand at her dyslexia. Although, I have requested some random books to do with Latin from my local library, and have researched it in great detail online .. I just dont actualy know how to read/write/understand it as of yet.

As life would have it, I have rather severe dyslexia, mainly spelling, my readings always been great. And so when text books and the like, come to the topic of Latin grammar, they tend to related it back to an example in English grammar, to which, I stick my tongue in the corner of my mouth, cross my eyes, cock my head to the side and stare at the page as if it had just asked me to recite, by heart, the English dictionary that is sitting beside me.

Of course, thats just silly. Im am wonderfuly horrible at English grammar, even though English is my first language and I was born and raised in New Zealand … My learning dissabilitys we’re not found out untill I was about 12 .. and had compleatly missed all the lessons previous in school on English grammar, because the teacher just thought I was stupid :slight_smile: Funny thing .. that teacher now works in a petrol station ..
Any who, man, can I go on and on and on .. etc, you get the point heh.


IF YOU DONT WANT TO READ THE ABOVE, PLEASE SKIP TO THIS PART AS IT CONTAINS THE ACTUAL INFOMATION OF MY POST:


Point 1: Is there a nice person out there, who had some understanding / knows Latin and could help me, via email, instant chat, voice chat etc, to learn the Latin language? From the VERY basics .. points to dyslexia

Point 2: snort If you have not read this book, please, stop what you are doing, put down the coffee, get some shoes on, prepare to laugh out loud like never before, and go hunt down a coppy of “X-Treme Latin : All the Latin You Need to Know for Survival in the 21st Century” written by “Henry Beard”.

I have almost never in my life, read something that truly made me laugh so hard. Its brillant. Truly brillant. Wonderful. Inciteful. Wow…

Oh, its also available on Amazon.com for $8 aparently, for thoes of you who like to shop online :slight_smile:



Cheers,

  • Roxanna.
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Hi Roxanna and welcome to Textkit.

I can’t offer to take you under my wings because in first place I don’t know much Latin (I’m self learning it too) and second at the moment I’m lacking more time than Latin knowledge (at that is a lot of lacking).

On other hand you will see that here in Textkit you will have, not one, but many people willing to help with any questions you may have in your Latin studies.

Although you haven’t ask for, I would recommend that you download and give a try to the book “Latin for beginners? by Benjamin L. D’Ooge. First because it is a very good book to start Latin, and second it is free.

Once more welcome to Textkit.

Andrus

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Thank you for replying :slight_smile: I have previously downloaded Dâ€:trade_mark:Ooge’s book, but just looked at it with my eyes crossed and my tongue in the corner of my mouth hah.

As I said, I really dont get the whole grammar thing (dyslexia and other leanrning disabilities) so his book, and many others just dont make sence to me .. like their written in another language .. wait ..

I have started working thru my kids Latin book, its great, its got pictures lol. Every one loves pictues :stuck_out_tongue: And I made flash cards XD Yes .. I need these kinda things to learn, even though im 19, meh, it happens :slight_smile:

Im currently learning how to say salve, vale, and that sort of stuff.
And am just on to such things as, quod nomen tibi est? mihi nomen est roxanna … Ill get onto grammar later. Its eaisier for me to learn stuff like this, the basic way, with out getting caught up in grammar.

I was asking for someone to take me under their wing .. as I feel kinda silly and slightly stupid posting here about how proud I am to have learnt how to ask some ones name, and reply with mine.

It may all seem seriously basic to you folks, but to me, and any one else who has learning dissabilities, its a HUGE achievment!

  • Roxanna
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Wow. I am seriously impressed. Major kudos to you for attempting to learn such a highly grammatical language! Unfortunately I am only a fairly beginning student myself, and in no position to take anyone under my fledgling wing, but I wish you the very best of luck!

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Takes kudos and luck, stores them in pocket for later use

Ta :slight_smile: And yea, I know this is going to be increadable difficult. If I ever get past the basics .. I will post on here more often, but, as I said, I feel like an idiot posting about how proud I am to be able to ask someones name in Latin when the rest of you are talking about translating Latin scripts and actualy holding proper conversations in Latin lol.

Oh well .. back to my flash cards I guess ..

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Hey don’t knock flashcards, I’ll be using them occassionally for the next couple of months too :slight_smile:

I feel kinda silly and slightly stupid posting here about how proud I am to have learnt how to ask some ones name, and reply with mine.

It may all seem seriously basic to you folks, but to me, and any one else who has learning dissabilities, its a HUGE achievment!

Don’t feel silly or stupid; you should be proud as anything. There’s a person in my Latin class who is very much in the same circumstances that you’re in. My current Latin professor explains to this person very well; she, the latin professor, is gifted in that way. I’m pretty sure, at least I hope, that you’ll find someone who’ll explain how the language is used in ways that are much clearer to you than a grammar book puts them.

There used to be someone on these boards for about a month or so, Kynetus Valesius, who had severe ADD. He speaks better Latin than I’m sure many of the experts on these boards; also because of him I first got the idea to record myself and listen to myself speaking. Anyway if he can do it, so can you.

The most important thing to remember, in my view anyway, is just that the info gets processed differently for people with learning disabilities; certainly grammarspeak was once alien as anything to me, and there are some people for whom it never makes any sense, learning disadvantage or not. But that should not limit you at all if you really want to learn a language - just find alternative ways to go about it. I wish I knew someone who speaks English to help you out (the only person I do know, who’s really really good at alternative learning strategies, is Mexican and speaks only Spanish).

Anyway, good luck, Roxanna.

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Hey, thanks for replying :slight_smile:

I wish I could find an actual Latin course, but aparently, they dont exist in my area, hence trying to teach myself.

ADD ? ticks box
I could go on and on and freaking on about my many dissabilitys and mental health problems, but I shall save you all the bordom of doing so!

I hate grammar, always have, never needed to think about it. I speak English, I can write in English, hell, sometimes I can even sing in English. What more do I need to know ?
Well, lots, grammar for a start. I would love to know all the verb whodickys and the adjectives and know what the mean .. but I dont. Oh well.

My main problem is .. How do I learn ? Well, no, I know how I learn (/ learning style), what im meaning is, how long do I spend on one exercise ? Should I make flash cards ? How do I practice what im learning ? How do I know when ive actualy learnt something!??

The book im using is a bit hairy on the above questions.
Due to this, that and the fact I eat hamburgers upside down, when I learn something I need to be told E X A C T L Y what im supposed to be doing .. I also need to know why.

I wouldnt drive a car before I found out EXACTLY what happens when I push this or pull that, same with my comp, I need to know how stuff works and why before I can start to learn.

And there-in lies my problem!! I dont know how or why Latin works. I dont know english or latin grammar .. so im strugling with the language.

Argh, im rambling again, someone really should let me know when im going on and on and on ..

mutterrambleruhbarbramble

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I like your avatar Roxanna. It’s awesome.

It’s pretty difficult to study Latin without understanding some basic grammar. Have you checked out this book: “English Grammar for Students of Latin”? You seem to spell pretty well, so perhaps your dyslexia isn’t as severe as you think it is. If you don’t like D’oodge you can try Wheelock. Those seem to be the two main preferences for people learning Latin here. As I have no experience in teaching -especially someone with dyslexia-, I don’t think I would qualify as well. Good luck. :slight_smile:

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Lol :slight_smile:

My spellings actually really bad, but I spel-checked most of the words I type here .. so normal people can actualy comprehend what im on about :slight_smile:

And yes, my disabilitys are actualy really serious.

Ive tried the english grammar thing, but mate, I dont get it. I honestly dont think I ever will.

Btw, ive looked at most of the stuff this site has to offer book-wise, and all of it does my head in.

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It’s one thing to not understand it now. It’s another thing to say you will never understand it. It’s okay if it’s difficult for you to grasp, but being defeatist will only make it more difficult.

I have never studied Latin. But since Lucus has not replied to this thread yet, I will suggest exactly what he would suggest, since it might be (or might not be) what you need, however strongly biased this article is

http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~wcd/Latin.htm

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I agree with GGG: being defeatist is certainly no way to go about it.

You speak English, so English grammar is already there, just unconsciously. Making basic grammar terms conscious is what gives some people trouble; a hurdle, but by no means an impossibility. You’ll want to get your very basic grammatical terminology down, and you can do this, even if it means reading the same thing over again twenty+ times, because all it is: putting into conscious terms what you already know unconsciously. Here’s where I wish I knew someone who spoke English to help you out, someone who can give you alternative strategies for making conscious the same thing most people here have made conscious.

Beyond the basics, I think that grammars often fall in love with their own terminology, creating bizarre terms that relate to what they’re expressing only tangentally; at times it takes a lot of mental leaps to see what they mean. Grammarspeak is born, and for some, especially those who haven’t got their basics down, it’s gibberish.

Anyway I too recommend you read Dowling. He gives a basic overview of grammar, and provides you with an alternative to learning via translation.

edit: although he is very biased; I say to each their own. How you decide to learn is up to you, and you have to try many different ways for yourself.

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I have no doubt about the validity of his approach, and evidently it is very successful, but there are certain comments which make me cringe which I wish he would have either omitted or re-phrased.

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Hello Roxanna, Good morning New-Zealand !

As you will see, I know a bit of Latin, but in my case, it’s English that matters.

Here some kind greetings as compiled by Erasmus from Rotterdam

SALVE “Hello” (“Be safe”)…
…mea Corneliola. “my little Cornelia”
…mea vita. “my life”
…mea lux. “my light”
…meum delicium. “my delight”
…meum suavium. “my kiss”
…mel meum. “my honey”
…mea voluptas unica. “my only pleasure”
…meum corculum. “my little heart”
…mea spes “my hope”
…meum solacium. “my solace”
…meum decus. “my honour”

A certain comic poet added even
…meus molliculus caseus : “my cream-cheese”, but it was to get the people laughing…

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Hey Skylax,

Cheers for your reply! Knowing other greetings etc is rather helpfull right now, so thanks! Im not sure what to make of the cream-cheese thing .. although I like cream-cheese lol.

Im still working thru my kids basic introduction to learning Latin book, and its actualy rather helpfull. Once I get this stuff down, I will most likely move onto D’Ooge or the likes.

Im onto the whole noun-fem-male-neut whodicky, and its almost (NOTE: almost!) making sence, I just need time to work thru it at a slow and basic pace and I should pick it up eventualy.

-Roxanna.

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Hello Roxanna :slight_smile:

I wish I could help your valiant effort to learn Latin but sadly I have forgotten too much to be of help in most cases. However, if I can help you with anything (like this male-fem-neuter thing that confuses quite a few people) I’d be glad to

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Hey Irene!

Cheers for posting. And im sure youd be much more helpfull then your letting on!! I shall add you to msn if thats alright? And any help you can give me, specialy any help that comes with pictures :stuck_out_tongue: will be muchly appreciated :slight_smile:
Thanks again.

-Roxanna.

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sure, go ahead and add me and we shall see about piccies hehe :smiley:
(just don’t expect too much -at least not before I go and loot my mother’s house and get me at least a Latin Grammar and a Latin dictionary which, now that I think about it, I may loot from my dad’s; he doesn’t use it anyway)

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Hah you use “XD”. Soooo few people use that! XD

Good luck with the latin! And yeah don’t knock flash cards- I use them myself. I go through them looking at the latin word and trying to remember the definition first, then turn them around and look at the definition and try to remember the latin word. Works well for me. :slight_smile:

Hopefully it’ll work well enough so that I can memorize, oh, 800 words by the end of the summer. :open_mouth:

As for understanding grammer- have you tried diagramming english sentences?

http://www.geocities.com/gene_moutoux/diagrams.htm

http://www.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/diagraminglatin.html

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Irene; Added :smiley: Hope to talk to you online soon!!! And im not expecting a full blowen course on Latin from you .. just general chit chat and possibly the occasional question of “Nurrgh .. why is a bird referd to as Female??? ITS A BIRD!!” Also .. both your parents have Latin books lying around?? My mother has hundreds of books on plants (landscape gardner) .. and im not sure if my dad reads (builder) snort.


Fabiola; XD, XD and one more time, all together, XD!! Thank you for the good luck, stores good luck in her pocket for later use and cheers for posting thoes websites, im reading over them now, very helpfull! You wouldnt happen to also have msn would you? You could keep me entertained with your flash cards and 800 words .. It shouldnt be to hard .. I mean, its only 800 :stuck_out_tongue::stuck_out_tongue:

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LoL yes, true, only 800. XP

I used to have MSN, don’t use it now.

Glad the websites are helpful! :slight_smile: